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Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice (the “Notice”) describes how the International Finance Corporation (also referred to herein as “IFC”, “us” or “we”) handles information collected from users of this website, www.ifc.org http://www.ifc.org (the “Site”).

BY USING THIS SITE, YOU ARE CONFIRMING THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE NOTICE TERMS, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SITE.

We may update this Notice at any time. Any changes to the Notice will become effective upon the date of our posting of the revised Notice on this Site. If you visit the Site following the effective date of the revised Notice, you will be deemed to have accepted the Notice’s updated terms.

What Information Does IFC Collect?

The information we collect through the Site includes “Personally Identifiable Information” (or “PII”), which is information that identifies or may be used to identify you as an individual, such as your first and last name, email address, and organizational affiliation, if any. We collect this information when you voluntarily provide it, such as when you register for a newsletter, submit a proposal, join a discussion group, or respond to a survey.

The Site also automatically collects information about you that is generally not PII (“Non-PII”) but relates to your use of the Site. Non-PII is aggregated information, demographic information and any other information that does not reveal your specific identity. The Site collects non-PII from you through browser navigational tools, such as cookies and pixel tags that identify you by your “IP address” (that is, the Internet Protocol address of the computer that you use to access the Site). Cookies are small data files that a website places on the hard drive of the device through which a visitor connects to the website. You can set your browser to accept all cookies, to reject all cookies, or to notify you whenever a cookie is offered so that you can decide each time whether to accept it. However, refusing a cookie may in some cases preclude you from using, or negatively affect the display or function of, a website or certain areas or features of a website. For more information about cookies, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

If you register on the Site, IFC may set a cookie that enables you to manage your subscriptions and online profile. By setting this cookie IFC will remember you the next time you visit and won’t have to bother you by asking questions you have already answered (like address information). In addition, IFC uses browser navigational tools to compile statistics about the daily number of visitors to our Site or specific Site pages, and to identify a webpage you may have visited before visiting the Site.

Please note that, at this time, the Site does not respond to a “Do Not Track” browser signal from a user.

By using the Site, you are deemed to unambiguously agree to its use of any cookies that you do not disable.

How Does IFC Use the Information it Collects?

IFC uses the information for four primary purposes:

To make the Site easier for you to use by not having to enter information like your address more than once.

To help you quickly find information that is relevant to you based on your interests.

To help us create Site content areas most relevant to you.

To confirm your purchases and registrations on the Site.

PII. We may use the PII that we collect about you for any or all of the following purposes:

Responding to Requests. To respond to your requests, such as to answer your questions sent through the “General Inquiries” form on the Site.

Providing Information. To provide you with newsletters or other information regarding IFC events, resources or services that may be available to you.

IFC Business Purposes. We use PII about you for IFC’s business purposes, such as to help us improve the Site, including by requesting feedback, and for related internal purposes such as data analysis, legal analysis, audits, enhancing the Site, and identifying usage trends.

Other Information. We use non-PII to help us improve the Site, such as by analyzing Site visitor trends, including usage of certain pages or functions on the Site. We may also use non-PII for other purposes, but if any such use involved combining the non-PII with any data so that it became identifiable to you or another person, we would then treat it as PII in accordance with this Notice.

With Whom Does the IFC Share the Information It Collects?

Whenever we use other organizations to provide support services, we may share the information collected from Site visitors, subject to the organizations’ agreement to conform to our privacy standards and/or allow us to audit them for compliance. We may also share your information with co-sponsors of IFC events and publications. In addition:

Operational Functions. To fulfill IFC’s mission as stated in its Articles of Agreement, we share PII with other affiliates of the World Bank Group, as well as with unaffiliated third parties who provide us with services, such as those entities that assist us with technology, data analysis, or similar services. We do not share PII with unaffiliated third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Remedies and Enforcement. We may use or disclose PII as we believe to be appropriate in the following circumstances: (i) to enforce the terms and conditions for use of the Site, including this Notice; (ii) to protect and defend our rights and property; (iii) to protect the interests of IFC or others; and (iv) to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

How Can You Manage PII We Maintain?

If you would like to correct or update PII about you that you previously provided to us, you may submit new information through the "Submit Inquiries" form on this Site. Please note that we are not responsible for correcting, updating or deleting any information in the databases of third parties.

How Does IFC Protect and Maintain PII Collected Through Our Site?

Security. We use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to help protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. However, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be fully secure. Please do not send us information you consider confidential via e-mail.

Data Retention. We may retain PII about you for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Notice.

Other Websites. The Site may contain links to websites operated by parties not affiliated with IFC. These linked sites are not under IFC’s control and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the contents of any such unaffiliated parties or their websites. If you provide PII through any such third-party website, the PII will be collected by, and controlled by the privacy policy (if any) of, that third party. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the privacy policies and practices of any such third parties, which are not governed by this Notice.

Collection of PII by Others Through Our Site. We do not currently allow others to collect the PII of visitors to the Site by tracking the usage of either our Site or other websites. We reserve the right, however, to allow third parties to use cookies or other technologies to collect information about Site visitors in order to provide analytics services and serve ads on the Site or on other sites based on a user’s visits to sites across the Internet and across other mobile applications.

Use of the Site by Children. This Site is not directed to children under the age of thirteen (13), and we do not knowingly collect PII from any children under age 13. If you are under age 13, please do not submit any PII to us.

International Transfers of Information. By using the Site, you are deemed to understand and unambiguously consent to the collection and processing of your PII in the United States or elsewhere.

Contacting Us. If you have any questions or concerns related to this Privacy Notice or the information practices of the Site, please contact Webmaster, or write to us at the address below.